NOTE: It is the
common belief among many traditional Catholics that John XXIII made no real
changes to the Missal as promulgated by him in 1962. Whether they attend a
Mass offered by a priest using the liturgical reforms of Pope St. Pius X, or,
attend a Mass offered by a priest using the liturgical reforms of John XXIII,
they see little or no difference. A 1954 Missal or a 1962 Missal, they are the
same, so they observe. Therefore, we think it necessary to reprint the article
that appeared in September 1984 issue of The Roman Catholic.
This article will give you an idea of the
scope of the changes. Just as important is the fact that those who accept the
changes are logically forced to accept the reason for which they were
promulgated, i.e., an interim liturgical reform dependant upon the changes
that would be wrought about by the Vatican II Council.
Finally, to many people, such organizations
as the Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King and the
Society of St. Pius X offering the Mass with the John XXIII changes, it looks
like a dream come true. It seems that their prayers were answered for, they
can have the Latin Mass and the approval of the Pope. However, to accept the
Mass of 1962, one must accept the other disciplines that came with it. We are
now being asked to turn the clock of time back to the turbulent years of the
60's that our parents experienced with all the anguish of the changes which
led to such devastation in the Church. Why, pray tell, should we go back and
accept that which ushered revolutionary changes into the Church and ultimately
gave birth to a whole new religion? Right reason would say: if we want to go
back and accept something, it should be the Mass of Pope St. Pius X which
fostered holiness, serenity, peace, vocations and sanctity.
Missal of St. Pius X
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Missal of John XXIII
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1.
Promulgated by a canonized saint who condemned Modernism, and composed with
the collaboration of absolutely orthodox priests both learned and pious.
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1.
Promulgated by a pope who admitted that he was suspect of Modernism, the
same pope who called Vatican II to "consecrate ecumenism" and open up the
windows of the Church to "renewal". Composed under the direction of
Ferdinando Antonelli, who signed the document promulgating the New Mass, and
under the direction of Annibale Bugnini, the "Great Architect" of the New
Mass, notorious modernist and suspected Freemason.
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2. Based
upon sound traditional Catholic principles which were employed many times by
the popes in the past. This missal was used by the Church from 1914 until
the ascendancy of the Modernist "Liturgical Movement" in the 1950's.
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2.
Based upon the principles of the modernist "Liturgical Movement" often
condemned in the past by the Roman Pontiffs, this missal was a transitional
work. According to Father Bugnini it was a "compromise" until the liturgy
could be made "a new city in which the man of our age can live and feel at
ease." It was used for only four years.
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3. "Do
not innovate anything; remain content with tradition." (Pope Benedict XIV)
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3.
"it is a bridge which opens the way to a promising future." (Annibale
Bugnini)
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Prayers at
the Foot of the Altar
4. Always said.
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Prayers at
the Foot of the Altar
4. Omitted on (1) The Purification after the Procession, (2) Ash
Wednesday after the distribution of ashes, (3) Holy Saturday, (4) Palm
Sunday after the Procession, (5) the four Rogation Days after the
Procession, and (6) certain other Masses according the new rubrics of the
Roman Pontifical.
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The Collect
5. On days of lower rank, in addition to the collect of the day, the
collects of Our Lady, Our Lady and All the Saints, Against the Persecutors
of the Church, For the Pope, or For the Faithful Departed, etc. are recited.
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The Collect
5. All these collects are abolished.
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6. The
commemorations of a lower ranking feast of a saint or a Sunday are made
according to the rubrics.
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6. The
commemorations of a lower ranking feast of a saint or a Sunday are either
abolished or strictly curtailed, so that on an ordinary Sunday most saints'
feasts entirely disappear.
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The Lessons
on Ember Days
7. Always recited.
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The Lessons
on Ember Days
7. The bulk of the Lessons are optional.
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The Epistle
8. Always read by the celebrant at Solemn Mass as specifically mandated
by Pope St. Pius V.
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The Epistle
8. The celebrant at Solemn Mass sits over on the side and listens
instead, just as he does at the New Mass.
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The Sequence
9. The Dies Irae must always be sung at a Requiem High Mass.
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The Sequence
9. The Dies Irae at a daily Requiem High Mass is optional.
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The Gospel
10. Always read by the celebrant at Solemn Mass as specifically
mandated by Pope St. Pius V.
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The Gospel
10. The celebrant at Solemn Mass listens instead
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The Creed
11. Recited on many feasts according to the rubrics.
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The Creed
11. Suppressed on many feasts (Doctors of the Church, St. Mary
Magdalene, the Angels, etc.)
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The Canon of
the Mass
12. Unchanged since the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great.
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The Canon of
the Mass
12. The name of St. Joseph is inserted; thus the Canon is no longer the
"unchanging rule" of worship.
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The
Communion of the People
13. The Confiteor, Misereatur, and Indulgentiam are always said before
Holy Communion.
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The
Communion of the People
13. Abolished.
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The
Benedicamus Domino
14. Recited in place of Ite Missa Est on Sundays and Weekdays of Advent
and Lent, Vigils, Votive Masses, etc.
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The
Benedicamus Domino
14. Abolished, except when there is a procession after Mass.
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The Last
Gospel
15. Either the beginning of St. John's Gospel or the proper Last
Gospel of an occuring feast ends every Mass.
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The Last
Gospel
15. The proper Last Gospel is abolished with one exception. No
Last Gospel at all is recited for: (1) the Third Mass of Christmas, (2) Palm
Sunday, (3) Holy Thursday, (4) Holy Saturday, (5) any Mass followed by a
procession, (6) Requiem Masses followed by the Absolution, and (7) certain
other Masses according to the new rubrics of the Roman Pontifical.
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Changes in
Feasts
16. St. Peter's Chair in Rome
Finding of the Holy Cross
St. John Before the Latin Gate
Apparition of St. Michael
St. Leo II
St. Anacletus
St. Peter in Chains
Finding of St. Stephen
Commemoration of St. Vitalis
St. Philomena (by indult)
St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church
Circumcision of Our Lord
St. Peter's Chair at Antioch
Most Holy Rosary of the BVM
St. George
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
St. Alexius
Ss. Cyriacus, Largus & Smaragdus
Impression of Stigmata of St. Francis
Ss. Eustace and Companions
Our Lady of Ransom
St. Thomas a Becket
St. Sylvester
Seven Sorrows of Our Lady
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Changes in
Feasts
16. Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Changed to St. Joseph the Worker
Changed to Octave Day of Christmas
Changed to St. Peter's Chair
Changed to our Lady of the Rosary
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded
Downgraded |
Octaves of
Feasts
17. Epiphany (7th Century)
Corpus Christi (1294)
Ascension (8th Century)
Sacred Heart (1928)
Immaculate Conception (1693)
Assumption (ca. 850)
St. John Baptist (8th Century)
Ss. Peter and Paul (7th Century)
All Saints (ca. 1480)
Nativity of Our Lady (1245)
St. Stephen (8th Century)
St. John the Evangelist (8th Century)
Holy Innocents (8th Century)
Dedication of a Church (8th Century)
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Octaves of
Feasts 17. Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished |
Vigils of
Feasts
18. Epiphany
St. Matthias
St. James
St. Bartholomew
St. Matthew
All Saints
St. Andrew
Immaculate Conception
St. Thomas
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Vigils of
Feasts
18. Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
Abolished
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Miscellaneous Rubrics
19. Three tones of voice are used by the celebrant: audible,
secret, and audible only to those at the altar.
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Miscellaneous Rubrics
19. Third tone of voice is abolished.
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20. When
the celebrant is at the Epistle or Gospel side of the altar, he always bows
to the cross at the center of the altar whenever he mentions the Holy Name.
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20.
Abolished.
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The Holy
Week Rites
21. Contains the Holy Week rites mandated by Pope St. Pius V.
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The Holy
Week Rites
21. Radically altered to such a degree that they are no longer
the Holy Week rites of the Tridentine Missal. These rites, in fact, needed
only cosmetic changes to fit the pattern of the New Mass in 1969.
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FINAL NOTES :
(1) The Communion of the People: Some priests,
who claim to adhere to the changes of John XXIII on the grounds of "papal
authority" nevertheless refuse to suppress the Confiteor, Misereatur and
Indulgentiam before the Communion of the people, as prescribed by John
XXIII.
(2) The Last Gospel: Father Bugnini expressed
the wish "of many" that the practice of reciting the Last Gospel be severely
curtailed or suppressed altogether. He only had to wait for a few years.
(3) Changes in Feasts: Note the modernist
prejudice against the cult of the saints and against feasts which refer to
papal prerogatives or apparitions approved by the Church. During Lent, the
John XXIII Missal suppresses most of the Masses of the saints.
THE PRE-CONCILIAR LITURGICAL CONSPIRACY
THE
NEW MASS was composed, as most traditional Catholics know, under the
supervision of Rev. Annibale Bugnini. Most traditional Catholics would
admit, as well, that the destruction of the Catholic Mass and its
replacement with a neo-protestant communion service was the result of
the concerted effort of conspiracy by a group of modernists. We have
consistently maintained that this conspiracy was already at work in high
places in the Vatican during the 1950 and early 1960s.
Father Bugnini and Rev. Ferdinando Antonelli headed a
"Commission for a Liturgical Reform" which authored the various liturgical
innovations introduced in the '50s and during the reign of John XXIII. These
innovators freely admitted that the gradual changes they introduced were
part of an overall program to create a new form of worship. The following
quotes from Father Bugnini's 1955 book, The Simplification of the Rubrics,
demonstrate this:
The New Easter Vigil (1951): "The first chapter (of
a general liturgical reform) was written in 1951 with the restoration of
the solemn Easter Vigil."
The New Holy Week Rites (1955): "The present decree has a contingent
character. It is essentially a bridge between the old and the new and, if
you will, an arrow indicating the direction taken by the current
restoration....The simplification does not embrace all areas which would
deserve a reform, but for the moment only the things that are easiest and
most obvious, and with an immediate tangible effect....In the
simplification, being a 'bridge' between the present state and the general
reform, compromise was inevitable....We are concerned with 'restoring'
(the liturgy)...(making it) a new city in which the man of our age can
live and feel at ease."
Father Bugnini went on to quote another fellow
liturgist's comments on the decree: "No doubt it is still too early to
assess the full portent of this document, which marks an important turning
point in the history of the rites of the Roman liturgy...this reform is only
a first step toward measures of wider scope, and it is not possible to judge
accurately of a part except when it is placed in its whole."
And here is Father Bugnini's word to his fellow liturgists: "Those who are
eager for a wholesome, realistic liturgical renewal are once more--should I
say--almost invited, tacitly, to keep their eyes open and make an accurate
investigation of the principles here put forward, to see their possible
applications....More than any other field, a reform in the liturgy must be
the fruit of an intelligent, enlightened collaboration of all the active
forces."
The authors of these changes viewed them as steps in their plan to create a
new form of worship. It seems only consistent that traditional Catholics who
reject the New Mass, reject as well the steps which led to it.
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